The Post-Leaving Certificate. Sector in Ireland: A Multivariate Analysis of Educational and. Employment Outcomes. Dorothy Watson, Selina McCoy and Shirley ...
The Post-Leaving Certificate Sector in Ireland: A Multivariate Analysis of Educational and Employment Outcomes
Dorothy Watson, Selina McCoy and Shirley Gorby
June 2006
1.
Background
The Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) Programme, or Vocational Preparation and Training Programme, has been in existence for over 20 years, having been introduced in 1985 with aid from the European Social Fund. The programme has developed a dual role. The initial emphasis was to ‘provide vocational training for young people to bridge the gap between school and work’ (Department of Education and Science website). However, over time, the PLC programme has also developed as a route to further education. The vast majority of entrants to the PLC programme from secondlevel schools have achieved the Leaving Certificate (although many ‘older’ entrants to the programme have not successfully completed second-level, an issue this paper considers). Since 1996, under the Higher Education Links scheme, places on ‘selected’ courses in the Institutes of Technology are allocated on the basis of attainment achieved in the NCVA Level 2 Awards by candidates on PLC courses. The only major review of this sector (McIver, 2003), suggested that ‘PLC courses provide an important progression route to higher education through the Institutes of Technology’.
Organisation of the PLC Sector Courses are offered in both second-level schools and more specialised further education ‘centres’ providing predominantly (if not solely) PLC courses. There are approximately 225 schools/centres providing PLC courses and those with at least 150 students (37 largely ‘specialised’ centres) account for 73% of the overall PLC enrolment.
The
remainder
are
taking
courses
in
secondary,
community,
comprehensive and vocational schools. Although the bulk of courses are taken in specialised further education centres, the operation and control of PLC courses remains within the second-level sector: ‘the administrative, management, staffing and ancillary support structures for the PLC sector have continued to be those of a second level school’ (McIver, 2003). Unlike for entry to higher education, there is no central application/entry point. Students join the programme by contacting the nearest Vocational Education 1
Committee (VEC) or schools offering PLC courses. Again in contrast to the situation for higher education entry, the Leaving Certificate Applied1 is a suitable entry point for the vast majority of PLC courses, with the exception of a small number of courses approved by professional bodies. Participants on PLC courses are eligible to apply for financial assistance under the PLC Maintenance Grants Scheme (introduced 1998) which provides means tested grants at rates equivalent to those payable at third level.
Although day-to-day ‘control’ of the PLC sector is within the second level sector, the vast majority of PLC provision is certified as Further Education by the Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC), under the framework of qualifications established by the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland. Most of the courses fall into Level 5 in the National Framework of Qualifications, or Level 2 from the National Council for Vocational Awards (NCVA). In terms of post-PLC education opportunities, anecdotal evidence suggests that there are limited opportunities for PLC ‘graduates’ to progress to higher education courses. However, under the Higher Education Links scheme places on ‘selected’ courses in the Institutes of Technology are allocated on the basis of attainment achieved in the NCVA Level 2 Awards by candidates on PLC courses2. The only major review of this sector (McIver, 2003), also suggested that ‘PLC courses provide an important progression route to higher education through the Institutes of Technology’. However, they fail to identify the extent to which such progression is actually occurring. More recently (2006), according to FETAC, 16 higher education institutions are now participating in the Higher Education Links scheme, with 19 higher education institutions participating in the Pilot Scheme, whereby most course places are open to
1
The Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA) is an alternative to the Leaving Certificate programme and adopts a cross-curricular approach to the preparation of students for adult and working life and emphasises holistic personal development. It was introduced into fifty schools in September 1995 and has since grown to 7,977 participants in 2002/03 (‘Tuarascáil Staitistiúil, 2002/03). While students taking the LCA are not eligible for direct entry into higher education, performance in the LCA is considered for entry to most PLC courses. 2 Since its inception almost a decade ago the scheme has expanded and broadened its progression routes to third level courses. Applicants must have obtained a full FETAC award. Currently (2006) there are thirty-five higher education institutions offering progression to a wide variety of Level 6 Higher Certificate, Level 7 Ordinary Degree and Level 8 Honours Degree Programmes.
2
FETAC applicants. Courses may have pre-requisite FETAC module or award requirements. Applicants are allocated a point score based on the best eight modules presented in their FETAC Level 5 or Level 6 award, with different modules carrying a range of credit values. Anecdotally, there is evidence to suggest that many PLC colleges have developed links with UK higher education institutions and many of those who wish to progress to further study do so through these UK colleges. Ultimately, there is a clear lack of data on the extent and nature of progression opportunities for PLC ‘graduates’. To what extent do PLC courses serve as an alternative route to higher and third level qualifications, or are PLC courses an alternative form of post-school education and training? These issues are central to the analyses presented in this report.
PLC courses are full-time and are mostly of one or two-years duration, with a small number of three-year courses. Courses are comprised of core modules, elective modules, general studies modules and a work experience module. Courses and course modules may be developed locally where a course provider wishes to respond to local needs and a relevant FETAC module is not available. New locally developed modules must be approved by FETAC before they are delivered. All assessment is also undertaken locally. FETAC is, however, responsible for quality assurance and the monitoring of national standards in vocational education and training programmes – external examiners are appointed by FETAC to monitor national standards. PLC courses have developed into a wide range of disciplines, largely with the aim of supporting industry and community needs, and as such have significantly widened the scope of educational provision. As such they appear well placed to identify and fill new and emerging education and training needs in the economy. The sector has pioneered education in such areas as childcare, community care, teleservices, e-commerce, equestrian studies, sport and leisure, tourism, multimedia and music. It also provides a wide range of courses in more traditional areas such as business studies, art and craft, information technology, construction and electronics. (McIver, 2003)
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Previous Studies of the PLC Sector One major review of PLC sector has been undertaken (McIver Consulting, Report to the Steering Group to the PLC Review), but this review was based on institutional analysis (rather than student level experience and views), and was very limited in scope – it only examined 15 colleges from those serving 150 or more students, excluding all second-level schools catering for PLC students. Two other studies provide some discussion of the role of PLC courses in Irish education – Hannan et al., 2003 and Hannan et al., 1998. The latter report, in comprehensively considering the experiences of participants in a range of educational and training settings, argued for the need for further expansion of the PLC sector. It provides two main arguments to support this conclusion, the first being the ability of PLCs to respond to local/regional labour market needs. In addition, the report points to the changing nature of educational provision at third level, and particularly in terms of the nature of short-term courses. The authors argue that provision of such shortduration courses is highly variable across the country and there has been an ‘academic drift’ over time. In this context, the report contends that PLCs can fill the gap emerging from such ‘academic drift’. The report also considers the Irish further education sector in comparative perspective and concludes that the Irish vocational training and further education sector is less satisfactory than the British one, for example. It points to the recent changes in Britain, and particularly in Scotland, which provide a more unified education/training model towards which we should be moving. In this ‘unified’ system all general and vocational curricular tracks (including PLCtype courses) have been brought under one unified framework and centralised institutional arrangements, with parity of esteem and progression to further education/training available to all participants in vocational and educational tracks. While recent changes under the National Framework of Qualifications provide some standardisation of qualifications and a more unified framework for the bulk of participants in the education and training system in Ireland, several key issues appear to remain prominent. Importantly, questions remain over the extent to which PLC participants can and do, in practice, progress to further and higher educational qualifications within Ireland. The second issue which appears prominent is that of institutional status: despite arguments to amend the status of PLC courses, PLC courses continue to be operated and ‘controlled’ within the second level system. The 4
final issue of parity of esteem with other forms of post-school and higher education also remains – while PLC courses serve a large and diverse portion of education participants, there are questions over the extent to which the PLC sector receives adequate recognition for this.
This study Given the relative neglect of the PLC sector in the research literature, this report addresses some central and key issues surrounding the role of PLC courses in Irish education and training: To what extent have levels of participation in the PLC programme changed over time? What is the profile of PLC participants in terms of gender, age, educational attainment and regional location? What is the impact of PLC participation on progression to further study? How do PLC leavers fare when they enter the labour market?
Data and Methodology The report, drawing predominantly on a supplemented sample of the PLC sector on the 2004 Annual School Leavers’ Surveys, addresses this dearth in research on the PLC sector. School leavers who exited the second-level system in the 2002/03 academic year (between September 2002 and the end of August 2003), provide the reference cohort for this study. The School Leavers’ Surveys are based on a stratified random sample3 of those leaving the official second-level system. Respondents were interviewed between 12-18 months after leaving school. The interview period for the 2004 survey was September 2004 – April 2005. The PLC Leavers were oversampled in order to provide a sufficient number of cases for a detailed analysis of their profile
3
Because the statistics contained in this report are based on a sample, they are consequently subject to usual sampling error variances.
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and circumstances.
The sample size of the current survey is 3,345 respondents, of
whom 1036 are PLC Leavers.
The sample was weighted to ensure representativeness of the population of all leavers, using data provided by the Department of Education and Science on gender, programme, programme year, and, for the PLC students, age group (under 21, 21-29, 40 or over). All the results presented from the 2004 SLS are based on the weighted data.
Outline of Paper The analysis commences, in Section 2, with an examination of overall levels of participation in the PLC programme and the extent of change and expansion over time, drawing on Department of Education and Science data. The analysis also considers the composition of PLC participants in terms of gender and age, and the extent to which this has changed over time. In Section 3, we make use of the 2004 School Leavers’ Survey data to examine the class and educational background of PLC participants. Section 4 examines the Educational and Employment Outcomes for PLC participants, but without controlling for other factors such as family background and qualifications. Section 5 presents the results of a set of multivariate analyses of educational and employment outcomes, controlling for factors such as qualifications and family background. The concluding section draws together the results and points to areas deserving of further examination.
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2.
Overview of Participation Levels in PLC Courses
Trends over time by Gender There are currently just under 30,000 participants in the PLC programme, representing a large sector of educational provision. participation in PLC courses by gender since 1991/1992.
Figure 1 shows trends in Levels of participation in
the PLC programme have shown a steady increase since its introduction in the mid80s. Since 1991 levels of participation have virtually doubled, from 15,000 in 1991/92 to over 28,000 in 2003/04.
Figure 1: Participation in PLC Courses by Gender, 1991-2004
30,000 25,000 20,000 Total M
15,000
F 10,000 5,000
19 91 /9 19 2 92 /9 19 3 93 /9 19 4 94 /9 19 5 95 /9 19 6 96 /9 19 7 97 /9 19 8 98 /9 19 9 99 /0 20 0 00 /0 20 1 01 /0 20 2 02 /0 20 3 03 /0 4
0
Source: Tuarascáil Staitistiúil 1991/92 to 2003/04, Department of Education and Science Note: Figures for the early 1990s are based on participation in both the VPT1 (post junior cycle) and VPT2 (post senior cycle) courses - for a number of years it is not possible to obtain separate figures. Hence, participation levels for the earlier years are likely to be an overestimate of participation levels in the PLC programme.
Despite considerable expansion of the PLC sector, female over-representation has remained virtually constant over time. Throughout the last decade, and despite considerable expansion in the range of PLC courses, males represent just 27-32 per 7
cent of PLC participants. Females have been considerably over-represented among PLC participants throughout the period, accounting for 72 per cent of participants in 2003-2004. In examining the nature of PLC courses on offer and looking at the 80 different subject areas covered in the 2003 national data on PLC participants, it is clear that the majority of courses and subject areas are dominated by females. While 16 subject areas have more than 60 per cent male participation, a total of 35 subject areas have more than 60 per cent female participation. However, the figures also reveal that the bulk of larger scale courses (such as business studies, languages/ teleservices and community and health service courses) tend to be dominated by females, while courses of a smaller scale (such as engineering, technology and science) tend to be dominated by males. While 9 of the subject areas have more than 1000 participants, 7 of these have a majority of female participants. Similarly, of the 29 subject areas with more than 200 participants, 21 have a majority of female participants. The gender imbalance in PLC participation could also be argued to reflect greater male progression into alternative post-school education and training options, particularly the apprenticeship route. Data from FÁS indicates that the vast majority of entrants to apprenticeships are male: of 6,805 apprentices registered in phase 1 of an apprenticeship programme in 2004, just 29 were female. Furthermore, the data also suggests that a considerable proportion of entrants to the apprenticeship programme left school prior to completion of the Leaving Certificate examination. This suggests that while the PLC programme seems to be catering for females (many of whom did not complete their second-level education, as we will see later), the apprenticeship system is providing alternative training for males, some of whom failed to succeed within the second-level system. The key concerns are those young people, male and female, who do not progress to any form of post-school education or training, particularly those who do not complete their second-level education (given the particular difficulties these individuals face in the longer-term, see McCoy, Smyth, 2003).
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Trends over time by Age Figure 2 shows how the age profile of PLC participants has changed over time. While the PLC/VPT programme was initially introduced to provide vocational training for school leavers prior to entering the labour market, the profile of those taking PLC courses has changed considerably since this time. No longer are PLC courses the preserve of 17-19 year old school leavers, but considerable numbers of ‘older’ people are now taking PLC courses.
Figure 2: Trends in PLC Participation by Age Group, 1994/5 to 2003/4 30000 25000 20000 N 21& over
15000
N
